Victorious
by Ocean1999
Summary: Set in an AU where Merlin gets a second chance. The problem is, he doesn't know it. What will he do differently this time? Set in season two. I suck at summaries but it's definitely worth the read :)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N This is my latest story. I hope you guys enjoy it. Reviews make me happy :)**

Arthur watches as her body falls hard, blonde curls splayed out around her head, eyes staring lifelessly into the sky. It was a shame. Arthur thought. She was amazing with a sword, if her sword hadn't fallen at the last minute, she would have easily beaten him. He was ashamed to have killed a woman, to have taken advantage of her not having her sword but he knew that that had been his only chance. '_You should have spared her, you had no quarrel with her.' _Arthur's conscience spoke. The voice often sounded like Merlin, the voice, even though it sounded like Merlin, was right. She didn't have to die.

* * *

Morgana watched the body thud onto the ground, blonde ringlets dancing about her head like a fiery halo. Deep in her head, deep in the darkest corner of her mind, something was screaming. Screaming like a wounded animal trying to escape a cage. What ever it was sounded insane, it scared Morgana that even the smallest bit was screaming profanities into her mind. Something about the woman, Morgause, she thought, had drawn her to her. It was gone now as the woman was dead. She turned to look at Merlin. '_How odd.'_ She thought. He was frowning and muttering to himself. He shook his head and stood up. He walked away towards Arthur, no doubt to receive an impossible load of chores and finish them all by tomorrow by some miracle.

* * *

'_No this is all wrong. She wasn't supposed to die.'_ Merlin thought. He had no idea how he knew that but he was sure that it was true. The woman had had magic, he was certain, but he had no proof that she used it for evil. Or that she had even planned on harming the Prince. He felt awful, he wasn't sure why he did it. Something deep in his head roared up and took control, before he knew it, his eyes were golden and Morgause's sword was on the ground, giving Arthur a clear shot at her chest. He had watched in awe and then horror as Arthurs' sword pierced the woman's' heart. Merlin had just unofficially killed someone, someone innocent. As much as he tried to convince himself otherwise, something lurking in the deep crevices of his mind, was purring with pleasure at the murder of the woman.

* * *

Arthur kept on dreaming about a fight. A fight with his father, about magic, he feels like he should be angry at him. He _is_ angry at him. The only problem is, he has no idea why. He keeps on having the weird surges of emotion. Just the other day he was talking to Merlin and he had this urge to hug him and never let go. He beat himself up eternally until. _that_ thought was gone. The other day he had bumped into Guinevere and he wanted to tell her he loved her, which was completely absurd, how could a Prince love a handmaiden? The strangest feeling he had had was betrayal. He had been seated at the dinner table with Morgana and Uther, and Morgana and Uther had started bickering. Arthur looked into Morganas' eyes and there was this little glint in them that made him knock his chair over and clutch his head. The intertwined emotions were too much. He was feeling so much towards the girl, there was pain, loss, anger, hatred, but the worst of all was the betrayal. It ran so deep in his mind and it was so sudden that he cried out. When Morgana reached out a hand to comfort him, he recoiled in disgust.

"Don't touch me!" He spat out, he then promptly ran out of the doors. He ran all the way to his chambers. He didn't bother undressing, he threw himself onto his bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Dinner had been a quiet affair. Everything had been going fine until she and Uther had started bickering. He had executed a woman yesterday because she had use her magic to heal a small, wounded child on the street. Morgana of course had argued. How is it fair that a woman who was helping an orphan gets executed. The worst part was, Uther had decided to execute the child too. Consorting with a sorcerer is a crime upon pain of death. She had been so furious when she heard of the private execution that she started yelling. It was getting heated when Arthur jumped up, knocking his chair over, clutched his head and cried out in pain. He knelt down on the floor, still clutching his head. Morgana had bent down to see if he was all right but Arthur had recoiled and looked at her with a mixture of hatred and disgust.

"Don't touch me." He said venomously, he then ran out of his room. Morgana had stayed frozen. Uther was still staring transfixed at the door his son had just run out of. Morgana then stood up stiffly, mask in place, emotions in check, and marched out of the room, ignoring Uther calling for her to come back.

Morgana walked calmly to her room, shut the door and locked it. That's when she started crying. Arthur had looked at her with such disgust, it hurt. She walked over to her bed and thumped down onto it. She didn't even undress or get under the covers, she fell fast asleep.

Morgana felt awake, but she knew she wasn't, this was one of her dreams. Her realistic dreams that she knew told the future. The visions came in flashes. She saw Morgause placing a spell on her, Merlin handing her a flask of water, watched as Merlin held her as she died from the poison she slipped him, watched as she was saved by Morgause, brief images of Morgause teaching her magic, returning to Camelot, nearly killing Uther, trying to kill Merlin, and of successfully taking the throne of Camelot… For about five days. She saw Arthurs' betrayed face, the same one she saw today, Uther's heartbroken one, Gwen's disappointed look, the most prominent of all was Merlins'. His face bore so many emotions, it was a miracle that it didn't crumple with the weight of it. On the first layer you saw the anger and disappointment, on the next layer, pity but the one that was hardest to see was the self loathing. It was as though it were all his fault. Suddenly the face transformed. It was exactly the same face but several years older. It opened it's mouth to speak.

"I blame myself for what you've become but this has to end."

She woke up in a sweat, scream dying fast on her lips. She twists around in bed and proceeds to be sick on the floor by her bed. She wiped her mouth on her bedsheets, someone will come in and clean that up. She can't be worried about that now, she needs to understand. She doesn't feel as though that _is_ the future but rather that that _was_ the future. She untwists herself from the sheets and gets out of bed. She walks over to the window, it's still dark out. It must be in the early hours of the morning. She heads over to the door and pokes her head out. The hallway is silent and dark. She slips out, bare-footed and runs down the hallway. Sh slows down at Gaius' chambers and puts her ear to the door. It's silent. She pushes open the door silently and darts across the room. Gaius is sleeping in his bed, snoring lightly. She doesn't want to see Gaius though, she's here to see Merlin. She tip-toes up the stairs to Merlin's room. She presses her ear to the door and listens for a sound, nothing. She walks into Merlins' room. She looks around, it's very small, only one window. She walks over to his bed and shakes Merlin awake. He won't wake up though. That's when Merlin's head fell off. Morgana stifled a scream and then a groan when she realized it was only a pillow. Confused, she pulled the sheet back to reveal a clever set of sheets made to look like Merlins' body. She took a few steps back and noticed a creaky floorboard. She stepped on it a few more times and then bent down to open it up.

* * *

Merlin groaned as he pulled himself off the ground. The sorcerer hadn't been hard to beat, Merlin hadn't cast a single spell, one of the sorcerer's spells had bounced off a wall and hit him. The poor man had exploded, sending Merlin sprawling on the floor. The man had had no idea what he was doing. Merlin dusts himself off and limps back towards the castle. He stumbled up the stairs to the physicians chambers and nearly fell through the door, catching himself before he did. He manoeuvred his way through Gaius' chambers with expertise and slipped into his room. He rests his forehead on the door then turns around.

The sight that meets his eyes is perhaps the single most alarming sight he had ever seen. There stood Morgana, frozen, eyes wide with his magic book wide open and halfway read in her arms.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked sadly.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for all the reviews :) I'll try and get chapters up every 2 or 3 days but no promises, school is ending so life is getting busy.**

Why does _Merlin_ have a magic book? '_Maybe he planned on giving it to you?' _Morgana thought to herself. She opened it up, it was well used, looked to be ancient. She took a seat on Merlin's bed. There were so many spells. There were some marked with words, words in english. It marked how the spells were used and occasionally the pronunciation. The words were so much like Merlin that she just knew it was his. Why had he never told her? She was going to put the book away and leave but it was just so interesting.

There must be a spell for everything. Spells for vanishing blemishes, a spell for conjuring spiders, a spell for curing the common cold… This was so interesting. She flipped through more pages until she found an interesting spell, a spell on controlling visions. She immediately thought of her dream from the previous night. She definitely didn't want one of those again. She was going to practice now but thought of Gaius in the next room and ripped the paper out of the book. Shoving it in her pocket she stood up. she froze as the heard the door to Merlins' room break open and Merlin himself stepped in.

He had his back to the door, Morgana wanted to hide but his room was so small there was nowhere to go. Merlin sighed and turned around. He froze**,** an expression of panic on his face. '_What's he so afraid of?' _Morgana thought. Was he really afraid she would turn him in?

"Why didn't you tell me?" She decided on asking. She did feel betrayed, she had just recently discovered her own magic. It would have helped her so much to have another magic user to help her and sympathize.

"I wanted to. I just… I don't know I was afraid." He stuttered out. Morganas' face softened, she understood being afraid of someone discovering her magic but still, she had told him. That had taken a great deal of effort, she had trusted him above everyone else, even Gwen. Did he not trust her?

"Don't you trust me Merlin? I have magic too, I would never betray you." She spoke softly.

"I know, it's just that all my life, I've been taught to hide my magic from everyone. I really wanted to tell you, I came really close to telling you but in the end I was a coward. I let you suffer alone even though I could have helped." He spat out.

"Wait, what do you mean all your life? How long have you been practicing magic?" Morgana asked curiously.

"I didn't start practicing magic until just after I came to Camelot." Morgana frowned.

"Then what did you mean by all your life?" She asked confused.

"I was born with magic, could use it before I could walk. Was never much good at controlling it though." He shrugged.

Morgana gaped at him, she had never heard of someone being born with their gifts, he must be incredibly powerful.

"Merlin, how many others have been born with magic?" She asked tentatively.

"No one." Morgana gasped. She thought about how lonely she had felt over the past few weeks and realized that Merlin had felt that way since birth, had feared himself, hated himself, never truly fitting in. Morgana enveloped him in a hug.

"You poor thing, you must have been so lonely." Merlin was slightly uncomfortable, he wasn't used to sharing his secret, having people pity him.

"It's okay now, Merlin. You have me." She said, gazing into his eyes. Merlin nodded.

"I can teach you." Merlin said. "If you want, that is. He hastily corrected.

"Of course!" She said, eyes alight in wonder.

"We'll have to be careful though. You're the Kings ward, people will pay more attention to you than me, it's easier for me to slip under their radar." Morgana nodded, face becoming more solemn.

"You have to promise me something Morgana." Merlin said in an almost commanding tone.

"Anything." Morgana breathed, excitement coursing through her veins.

"You mustn't use your magic for evil. Darkness consumes even the lightest of hearts." He said sounding over a hundred years old. Morgana nodded, face falling. She realized that most of the evil magic users that attacked the king were only acting out because of the ban on magic and what Uther did to those who were found out. She shuddered to think of all the men, women and children that had been needlessly slaughtered, most probably not even possessing magic.

If that's how Uther treats them, would he react the same if he found her out or would he spare her because she was his ward. That seems like such an Uther thing to do, kill innocent people for unknowingly harbouring a sorcerer and when he himself harbours one, cries enchantments. The great hypocrite. It would be so much easier if he weren't king, if he were dead.

Morgana shook her head, She shouldn't be thinking like that, he had taken care of her for most of her life, she owed him gratitude. Despite those thoughts, she couldn't help hoping that he would fall ill. Something inside of her wanted him dead and, no matter what she did to suppress it, wouldn't go away.

She gave Merlin a hug, thanked him and left, making her way back to her room. When she slipped back into her bed, she dreamed of the king, of breaking him, driving him insane, breaking his heart and finally, after torturing him mentally, finally putting his mind to rest.

When she woke up the next morning, despite being horrified, a part of her, deep in the back of her mind, was triumphant, she had finally killed him, even if it wasn't real. She was so confused, she cared for Uther, perhaps not like a father but rather an uncle but something was rejoicing at his death. She again felt like this wasn't just a dream but rather a memory, a desire and a future. She desperately needed someone to help her. She couldn't end up so sadistic that she laughed about a mans death, could she?


End file.
